Do yourself a BIG favor and replace the gears with a matching chain. It is never the chain that goes out it is the plastic gear. As the plastic gear goes away the pieces end up in the oil pump screen, then the pan has to come off.

 

When you put it back together use never seize on the bolts from the head all the way down to the threads and the threads. This way if you have to remove it down the road they come out easy.

You dont have to crank the motor over to line the timing gear dots up before you pull it apart as you can turn the cam / crank after.
But if you can get the cam close that will help you get the cam lined up. The crank you can use the bolt to turn it to line it up.
You do not have to worry about valves hitting pistons if you need to turn either cam or crank as they will not hit.
Dave ----

 

Thanks for the info. Upon a closer inspection it definitely looks like that cam gear has nylon/plastic on it, so I ordered a replacement. The crankshaft sprocket does appear to be fully metal. Should that be replaced as well? I'm having a bit harder time locating a replacement for that.

Edit - I found the crank sprocket, so will replace both.

 

You can get a kit that has both gears and the chain. I must admit though, the ones I have done I have just re-used the lower gear, it was always in good shape for me. If you go with a high dollar roller chain you will have to replace the lower gear. If you go with a stock chain and a METAL stock type upper gear, then the lower gear is optional if it looks good.

I would find the marks on the lower gear the and the upper gear, and turn the engine by hand till they line up. That will be helpful when you put the new chain and gears on.
They make a gasket kit that has two little short pieces of the pan gasket and the rubber piece for the front of the pan, so you can splice all that back in place with some sealer. I would glue the pieces on the pan with that yellow contact glue so they do not move.

 

Perfect! Thanks for the info!

 

I added to my post above about the gasket kit.

 

I ordered the gasket set that comes with the replacement corners for the oil pan gasket. Do you think that 3M Gasket Adhesive would be a decent material to hold them in place?

 

On the chain you can reuse the bottom gear if going back with the factory NON-ROLLER chain.
I always go for a ROLLER chain as you have less stretch over time because of the rollers.
Dave ----

 

Got the chain and gears so far. Still waiting on the other parts.

Does anyone know what this offset cup thingy is on the cam sprocket? The old one had it on there so I assume it needs to go back on the new one. Have seen other folks do this job where that wasn't in place on their motor. Just curious.

 

That is for a mechanical fuel pump. It is also a washer so re use it.

 

Got it! Makes sense. Thanks!

 

All of the parts finally arrived and I had some time with nor rain, so I got everything reassembled. I then changed the oil and coolant. There was a bunch of coolant in the oil, probably 2x what is normal for just oil. The truck started up perfectly after about 5 seconds of cranking and I let it idle while I was cleaning up. I did notice there was still a decent amount of white steam coming from the tailpipe. I after I was done cleaning I hopped in and notice the temp gauge was around the A-L of NORMAL. Tested temps with the IR thermometer and had 195 at the thermostat housing (there was a 180 degree thermostat in there and I replaced with 196, which I was told is stock), 175 at the water pump, and about 140 at the lower hose, 160 on the heater hoses. However the coolant in the radiator was only luke warm. I could easily put my finger in there.

Things to note
1. The water pump backing plate (I think that's what it's called) was pretty gnarly, but I reused it because I couldn't find one locally. I used a good amount of RTV on all of the gaskets, especially this one.
2. The power steering pump need fluid (this is unrelated to the coolant I know, but just putting everything)
3. There is a vacuum line coming off of what I assume is a temperature sensor on the top of the thermostat housing. That vacuum line is sucking air, but I have no idea where it goes. There was a disconnected vacuum line coming from the distributor, but the two do not reach one another. I found a line that did reach the distributor, but it does not appear to be pulling a vacuum.
4. I used new stainless bolts with anti seize. I didn't want to over torque them, so just got everything good and tight.

My uneducated guess is that coolant is not flowing through the system. The impeller spun when I tested the water pump, is I assume that's not it. I guess if there is a small air leak somewhere it wouldn't be able to pump coolant. Or if there was air in the pump itself it wouldn't move coolant. I ran the motor for quite a while with the radiator cap off and drove it up and down a steep hill with th cap on. Any ideas?

After thinking more about it I think the most obvious answer is that there is air in the system somewhere and I should try harder to get that out.

Wait, which way does the spring go on the thermostat, up or down? Down correct, toward the engine?

 

Spring goes down. You will get no flow until the thermostat opens. Problem is, there is air trapped in the top of the engine, so no coolant, just hot air is under the thermostat. So usually if you keep running it, it will overheat a little bit until the thermostat finally opens. Usually before that happens coolant will start gushing out of the open radiator. Then when the thermostat finally opens, the coolant will suddenly disappear in the radiator and it will need some more added.

If it's really cold outside, all that cold water from the radiator will hit the thermostat and shut it again. So you might get another gusher, but it will be less the 2nd time. It will finally stabilize and the coolant will be rushing by the radiator all the time. Then you can top the radiator off, put the cap on, and then fill the overflow bottle half-way and call it good.

On that vacuum line, once you get the coolant problem solved, get the engine running, and the line from the carb that did not have vacuum, rev the engine with one hand on the throttle while you feel this line and see if it suddenly has vacuum when you rev the engine. If it does, hook this line directly to the distributor and see how it runs.

 

Do you have a vacuum sticker like this on the radiator support ?


Found this, https://www.google.com/search?q=1986...hrome&ie=UTF-8

 

Ahh, yes I do!

After a bit more research last night, is it correct that with the smog equipment removed I don't really need any of the vacuum lines coming off of the thermostat housing Christmas tree? And that the vacuum line to the distributor advance should go to the passenger side port of the Edelbrock 1406 carb?